Posts by Hilary Stace
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Access: Right to die?, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Joe, the Holocaust is relevant to this discussion. The killings started because a father asked the State to kill his disabled infant son. The doctors and officials thought about it, worked out how to do it and realised it could be done on a large scale. It is estimated that over 200,000 disabled people were euthanised by the Nazis merely because they were disabled. There is now a memorial to them in Berlin, naming many of them. So it is not surprising that Martin mentions this era as a warning.
After the war the Nuremberg Code became the basis of our modern clinical ethics system. However, for many years clinical research still took place on disabled people and children without their consent (as in the well-documented polio vaccine trials).
In mary countries disabled people still have no legal status as people. Their lives are considered worthless.
You dismiss Martin's argument as 'headiness borne of single-issue activism' - if that activism is to promote disability rights, well someone has to.
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The point of this post is that disabled people have long had people make judgements about the assumed tragedy and suffering of their lives. If euthanasia is legalised the power of those beliefs will mean that disability will continued to be feared as something unnatural and negative, rather than embraced as just part of the diversity of life and living until death.
Disabled people, or those increasingly disabled by illness, will have more pressure on them not to be burdens on carers or the public purse, and they will be pressured to choose to kill themselves or be killed, as the easy option. There are historical precedents, and recent anecdotal reports of disabled people with DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) on their files without their permission.
I write this as an historian and observer of disability policy and with an interest in clinical ethics. Still not sure exactly where I stand on euthanasia, although I fear that it will not be healthy for disabled people, particularly those with high needs and less able to speak for themselves.
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As with many people Terry Pratchett thought he would eventually want the right to die when his potential 'suffering' became too overwhelming. However, he appears to have gone through a natural progression towards death. The movie Still Alice shows a woman with early stage Alzheimers leaving instructions for her future more disabled self about killing herself. However, for various reasons it didn't happen that way. The movie also shows how family relationships can develop, rather than deteriorate, during the progression of such a disease. What is anticipated isn't always the way things happen.
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Thank you Martin for this thoughtful piece. A disability perspective on this topic is not often heard in the media.
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Hard News: Friday Music: It's good to…, in reply to Paul Campbell,
Some famous faces in that clip - looking very youthful.
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Access: Some aspects of New Zealand’s…, in reply to Robyn Hunt,
Robyn, thanks for that additional information. This series is just my interpretation of a history, and only a summary. At that time I was vaguely aware of the EEO progress and the alliance behind the HR Act. But at that point I was just learning about disability and mainly dealing with the shocking revelation that families experience the education system quite differently when you have a child who is different.
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Access: Some aspects of New Zealand’s…, in reply to Sacha,
Sacha I disagree with your assessment of the younger generation. For a start they have grown up with disabled people as peers in their schools and communities more than in earlier generations. I know numerous young people who are energetic allies for disabled people in both voluntary and paid roles. Unfortunately, that Rogernomics cult of individualism and neo-liberalism means they are sometimes not great at collective action and fighting for the common good, and they are often struggling to survive economically. But that is not the same as selfishness.
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I did a little interview with Radio NZ Nights about our history of polio. Many NZers are survivors of polio or have family members or friends affected. We shouldn't forget polio just yet. Many 'polios' are having the same issues about accessing scarce disability support and services as other impairment groups. Interviewer Bryan Crump's mother and brother developed polio in the 1950s so he knew a lot about the topic.
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Access: Review: Where is Autism?, in reply to Phil Wallington,
A rally against the library cuts has been organised for next Thursday 26th at 4 pm outside the National Library
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Saved, I hear! Helped by social media.
